Cyclohex-1-en-yl-phenylacetonitrile C.sub.6 H.sub.5 CH(CN)--C.sub.6 H.sub.9 is described by V. J. Harding and W. N. Haworth in J.Chem.Soc. (1910), 486-498, as the product of the alkaline condensation of phenylacetonitrile and cyclohexanone.
However, it later emerged that the reaction product is in fact and reality cyclohexylidene-phenylacetonitrile C.sub.6 H.sub.5 C(CN).dbd.C.sub.6 H.sub.10 (I), D. E. Whyte, A. Cope, JACS 65 (1943), 1999-2000 and S. F. Birch, G. A. R. Kon, J. Chem. Soc. 123 (1923), 2442-2446.
Harding and Haworth describe the product obtained by them simply as a colourless oil having a pleasant ethereal odour. The later authors do not provide any information concerning this.
It is surprising that an odorant having extremely valuable properties and--as enlarged upon below--diverse use potentials is hidden behind this cursory, moreover extremely imprecise, non-specific olfactory description.